Australians are recalling a ‘haunting’ TV advert from the 2000s and 2010s that left them ‘scarred for life’.
The Cancer Council launched its The Dark Side of Tanning campaign in the late noughties using the well-known slogan ‘There’s nothing healthy about a tan’ alongside ‘horrific’ graphics showing how melanoma can spread around the body.
Skin clinic Madeleine O’Brien shared the nostalgic commercial online that triggered the memories of thousands.
Cancer Council Australia Director, Cancer Control Campaigns and Communications Melody Chew told FEMAIL the campaign had a huge impact on young Australians, but there is still a long way to go with many prioritizing vanity over skin health.
‘(Cancer Council Australia) absolutely get rid of this campaign! It haunts me. Maybe a little too scary for a 10-year-old me to watch, but hey, look at me now preaching sun safety. It clearly worked,’ Madeleine captioned a TikTok clip.
The ad shows a woman lying on the beach in her bikini with no sunscreen on. It then shows a CGI rendering of melanoma cells spreading into the bloodstream.
“Tanning is skin cells in trauma trying to protect themselves from cancer, but a damaged cell can cause a melanoma to grow, and just a millimeter deep, it can enter your bloodstream and spread,” the narrator warns.
So even if a melanoma is excised, the cancer can reappear months or years later, often in your lung, liver or brain, and you haven’t even started burning yet. There is nothing healthy about a tan.’
Madeleine said the campaign ‘haunts’ all Australians born before the 2000s. She called it her ‘Roman Empire’, meaning she still thinks about it regularly.
”There’s nothing healthy about a tan’ has been etched into my head for YEARS now,’ one woman agreed.
‘Yes, my friends and I still say ‘tanning is skin cells in trauma!’ to each other when someone doesn’t Slop Slap properly,’ wrote another.
Millennial Aussies said they were ‘haunted’ by the Cancer Council’s ‘Nothing Healthy About a Tan’ advert as children and said it scared them into staying out of the sun (stock image)
Skin clinician Madeleine O’Brien (pictured) shared the nostalgic advert online that triggered the memories of thousands
‘Yes!!! Saw this in the early 2000s as a little girl, and it’s the main reason I take sun safety SO seriously. Confrontational, but necessary!’ replied a third.
Some said they had forgotten the ad but knew “every word” when they saw it again.
“I still know it by heart 24 years later,” said one viewer.
“This was the ad that got me serious about SPF,” commented another.
‘I regularly think of the line ‘lungs liver or brain’,’ added one, to which Madeleine replied: ‘The part that comes to me is ‘and you haven’t even started burning yet’ I was 10 and convinced that I was full of melanoma.’
The Dark Side of Tanning campaign was developed by Cancer Institute NSW for the summer of 2007-2008.
It was then adopted by other organisations, including the Cancer Council, and run in other states and territories over the following years.
The Dark Side of Tanning campaign was developed by the Cancer Institute NSW for the summer of 2007-2008, then adopted by the Cancer Council and run in other states and territories
Melody said because the ad was so ‘shocking’ it was very successful in achieving high recall.
‘(The Cancer Council) did some research at the end of last year with young people aged 18 to 30 and we found they were still quoting the line from that ad: ‘There’s nothing healthy about a tan,'” said she.
‘We also saw in the research that there is a really strong understanding among young people of the risk of skin cancer and how to protect yourself from skin cancer, and we can thank that particular campaign for that.’
Melody said that while young people are well aware of the risks of tanning and sun exposure, there is a strong tendency to ignore advice for appearance’s sake.
“We need to focus on social media and especially influencers that target young people aged 18 to 30 and drive these attitudes that are all image-related,” she said.
‘The four key attitudes are: “I look slimmer with a tan”, “clothes look better on me when I get a tan”, “I look sick when I don’t have a tan” and “I feel healthier” with tan”. What we really see is that vanity trumps mortality.’
Melody said the shock value of the ‘Nothing Healthy About a Tan’ ad from 2007 isn’t as effective in these days of social media.
‘They won’t work unless we can convince young people that a tan doesn’t make them look prettier, that their clothes don’t look better on them with a tan and that they can feel safe without a tan color,’ she said.
‘That’s what the Cancer Council and the Australian Government have been working on and it’s a long game.’
The Cancer Council has teamed up with more than 60 influencers who have promoted the benefits of staying out of the sun and avoiding sunburn.
‘They’ve been really great at driving conversations about tanning culture and making sun protection look glamorous and aspirational. Just seeing all the comments on their posts out there and the way people are starting to question it is really rewarding to see,’ said Melody.
‘It fills me with a bit of hope that we can actually manage this big uphill battle. Obviously, this cultural change won’t happen overnight, but we’re seeing really good early signs of success.’